Same-Sex Marriage Proponents Remain Doubtful About Mo.

The 2013 PrideFest parade drew a large crowd to downtown St. Louis on Sunday, June 30, 2013

(KMOX/Brad Choat)

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) – On the heels of last week’s U.S. Supreme Court decisions on the Defense of Marriage Act and California’s Proposition 8, some are wondering if states like Missouri will soon begin the process of legalizing same-sex marriage.

U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-MO, says she’s not holding out hope that state lawmakers would consider allowing same-sex marriages in the state.

“I couldn’t be elected United States Senator in this state if the people who are leading Jefferson City were in sync with Missourians,” she said. “There are a lot of Todd Akin wannabes in the Missouri legislature.”

Speaking on KMOX’s Mark Reardon Show Friday, Missouri House Speaker Tim Jones, R-Eureka, talked about the definition of marriage.

“If you look in the dictionary, the primary definition, the number one, is a union between the man and a woman,” he said. “So, in the state of Missouri, you’re going to have to amend the constitution to change those traditional family values and I don’t see Missouri doing that.”

“It’s ironic to me that some of the people who are against gay marriage are the same ones saying government needs to give them more individual freedom,” McCaskill added. “To me that’s a little hypocritical.”

Attendees of Sunday’s PrideFest parade in downtown St. Louis were more hopeful than their elected officials.

“Whenever our state sees what’s going on in the rest of the nation, hopefully we can step up and not be the center of the Bible Belt and actually be part of our nation,” one man said.

“We’re the constituents and they see us out here,” another added, “and they know that we count because there’s a lot of us.”